This invention relates to electrical connectors in general and in particular to electrical connectors having a self-leveling contact assembly and providing a water seal about the contacts.
In electrical connectors, such as those utilized in batteries for portable radios, it is necessary to make provisions for the mechanical biasing of the contacts to assure that electrical and mechanical connection is made to the mating contacts of the radio. This is necessary due to variations in the positions of contacts of the radio and serves to assure that the battery contacts will lie in the required plane fo connection. Consequently, a resilient means such as a spring arrangement is utilized with each individual battery contact to allow for variations in making electrical and mechanical connection.
It is also desirable to provide water seals about the contacts when the battery is mated to a radio. When using water sealed radios and water sealed batteries this allows the radio to be submersed without damage and prevents corrosion and galvanic action at the contacts. Typically, such seals are provided by the use of individual O rings about each contact. The reliability of such sealing approach is inversely proportional to the number of O ring seals utilized. Consequently, it would be desirable to provide a single seal arrangement for plurality of contacts on a radio battery.